Is Google's hypocrisy evil?

Google's motto is "Do no evil". TechCrunch says Google is at a tipping point. The controversy is around Google promoting its own services in search result pages. The argument is that the way Google promotes its services may confuse users that they are actually clicking on a valid, relevant search result, when it is really a "tip" from Google linking to its own services.

The hypocrisy is that Google has criticized Microsoft many times for doing similar things, most recently with the release of Internet Explorer 7.0. Even in this case Google showed its hypocrisy, slamming Microsoft about Internet Explorer, while making Google search the default in Firefox, Opera, and Safari. For more details on this see "Google supports choice...except on Firefox and Opera". Google is rumored to be developing a browser. If they do, will Google be the default search vendor? Of course!

Is this evil? No, I don't think so...just hypocritical. Google has every right to promote their own products and services. It is just good business to do so. But, maybe they should avoid the hypocrisy and stop criticizing competitors for doing the same thing.

Just to be clear, in the case of IE 7,  when a user installs IE7 it honors whatever browser preference choices the user has previously made. If the user has chosen Google as their search service, IE7 installs Google as the default service. If no previous choice has been made then IE installs Microsoft Live Search.

We all try to do the right thing for our customers. Customers always choose the best products and services...despite how the PR machine would like to spin the story.

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Comments

[watever]

This is one of the most insightful posts i have read..

Yes..Google lost my trust when they became more GOOG and less google..

I find no harm in tipping me Google calender when i search for calender(best as of now..),tipping picasa web over flickr is a bad thing to consider..

Google writes it's own failure with it's motto..

And Abt Microsoft..IE bundling with OS is a great thing to do as it was far better than netscape at that moment.

[Dominic Jones]

> Google has every right to promote their own products and services. It is just good business to do so.

Will this new practice be a boost for Google's properties. Obviously. Is that a good thing? Yes, if it doesn't undermine people's trust in the main search product.

What I hear people saying is that the move does undermine the integrity of the main search product. If that's so -- and some people say it is -- then I'm in the camp that says it's not good business practice.

In my book, making people distrust you isn't good business practice for any company, least of all Google.

It's a case of short-term gain for long-term pain...

[PZ]

Found this post on the Google Finance page for GOOG and I think that there's a bit of a logical/informational slip here.

Google did not *make* itself "the default in Firefox, Opera, and Safari." While Google has some collaboration with the developers of Firefox, it has none whatsoever with Opera and Safari, which are made by companies independent of Google. And making Yahoo, Answers.com, Wikipedia Search or any other search engine the default of Firefox and Safari is extremely simple: just click the logo/tab on the search bar and you are given a choice.

As for the tips issue...I have no idea why people think that others are unable to distinguish between a Google "tip" and a search result. I mean, it says "tip", it's italicized, has a unique icon and is separated from the search results. I think the tips may be gone, however, as I don't see them anymore.

[Steve Morsa]

Good point, Don...just demonstrates once again the benefits of being a Teflon company, where few if any wrongs--including hypocrisy--stick.

Ah--the joy and benefits of being a media darling...

[Vijay]

A classic case of David becoming Goliath...

[Ale]

Nice post, Don.
I agree on the point that is not evil and Google has every right to market its products. I'm not with you on your conclusion ("Customers always choose the best products and services...despite how the PR machine would like to spin the story") as PRs have a great influx on people and customers (as European I'm truly in favor of EU Court of Justice against MSFT re Windows Media Player > Consumers were not left free to choose)

[Robert Stein]

Google is evil. Just look at how much warez is being hosted on blog-spot.

[Robert Stein]

One more thing, google made a living off of directly copying other's work with a simple credit. Akin to academic plagerism. The oogle did, Google Answers or whatever it was failed because Google was too greedy to let people ask questions for free. Look at how robust Yahoo answers has become.